Knives Posts

Yep, that’s right, Episode 16 is out, and it’s a big one! We meet the Soul Thieves, and no one is ready for the confrontation that follows. Fun question: did Elena get her wish?

From a writer’s standpoint, I made some promises in this episode. After today, Martin will be angry one more time, and it will be cataclysmic. But until then we can count on him keeping a level head and killing people only for entirely rational reasons.

Just when you think you might have a little time to teach a profane young woman the subtleties of slicing people up, along comes the army. I like this episode, both for the quiet time that allows us to learn a little more about Martin as he introduces Elena to her new knife, and for her reaction. It is a time of bonding between the two. But even if they are friends, they may not always agree.

Not a lot of news to share about the ongoing construction of this site, so let’s just move on to the link:

Episode 14 turned out to be massive, so I chopped off the last third, both to get a release out sooner, and to make the size of the episode less of a commitment to readers. In the process I realized I had sent Martin and Elena out into the world without an object I had taken great care to create, so I tweaked episode 13 a bit to move Elena’s knife along.

The split means Episode 15 is already warming up on the tarmac, but needs a bit more TLC before it’s cleared for takeoff.

I also made some changes behind the scenes that don’t really matter to you much, except that now links between episodes are done automatically and the Table of Contents will always be correct without my manual intervention. More important, it’s the first step toward a feature to the table of contents that will let patrons see whether they have already read an episode.

I’m pretty stoked about this one. There’s a shift, perhaps hard to spot now, that will have massive consequences. But it’s going to take time; Martin’s second-greatest skill is disappointing those around him.

From a writer’s perspective, I thought this was going to be a slam-dunk episode but it turned out to be quite a lot of work — for good effect. There are some nuances here that expand the characters. That’s what has me most excited about this one. There’s a chunk of esplainin’ but I think it works as the narrator is talking about how things used to be.

Ah, the happy life in Mountain Hole. Drink, gamble, exist. But all good things must come to an end. It’s not the first time Martin has worn out his welcome, but there’s a difference this time, measured in lives lost.

Back here at the ol’ Web site, it turns out I skipped a few steps when I unleashed episode 11, so it wasn’t on the main story page and the links between episodes weren’t set up right. So if you missed episode 11 you have an extra treat waiting for you now.

I’ve been so caught up in the mechanics of this site that the story has suffered from a bit of neglect. That, and after maybe fifty-seven rewrites I finally found Martin’s way to say that every day he lingers in Mountain Hole is another day closer to violence.

But of course, Martin is a rational person and since he knows one course leads to destruction, he will take another course. Right?

Meanwhile Bags has to say goodbye to a dear friend, and Katherine has to tip a little more of her hand.

It took a while to get things set up (thanks, beta testers!) but the first chunk of patron-only content is live! Chapter 1 of Bags’ story is out, and will be followed very soon by a lot more variable-quality prose. We’ll see Bags grow up into a very dangerous kid, but some of the latter parts of the sprawling story will have to wait for a while yet. Spoilers, you see.

A note to patrons who wish to access the special content: Getting set up the first time is a two-step process. First you connect this site with your Patreon account. The magic Patreon code (that I’m really trying not to spend time improving) will then set up an account for you here. After the first link-up, you are a full-fledged member of this site, and you will log in through the normal WordPress fields after that. (Or clef, if you want to be all high-tech and secure.)

Each time you log into your account here, it will contact the Patreon mother ship and adjust which patron-only content you’re allowed to see. Its… not as intuitive as I think it could be. But the good news is that once you’re a member here, you can set the name that shows next to your comments and even upload a picture and other useless crap like that.

Some content, like Bags’ Chapter 1, is available to all Awesome Patrons at the 10¢/episode level and above. The full backstory will be available to patrons at the Noble Supporters of Knives level and above. Mighty Benefactors of All Things Sharp and Pointy will be polled to decide whose backstory will follow Bags’.

This is my humble way of saying thank you to all who have chosen to support this project. I’m really enjoying it, and I hope you are too.

Episode 10 evolved quite a bit through the revision process; it grew to fill a gap in the original ‘rough-draft’ series over at Muddled Ramblings, addressing (or at least starting to address) a convenient but inexplicable reticence in some of the characters in the rambling version.

So I have patrons now, and I have an area on my site that is supposedly for patrons only. But does it work? Heck if I know. Someone else’s code, and whatnot. Are any of my kind and noble friends willing to help me test it? As soon as I know how it works, I’ll start posting all the backstory content I owe y’all. (Although a little of Bags’ backstory is spoiler-ish, so the last few chapters will have to wait until after a particular upcoming episode comes out.)

Meanwhile, I’ll be reaching out to the Mighty Benefactors of All Things Sharp and Pointy to determine whose backstory comes after Bags’.